The girls' parents, Fernando Richter, 36, and Sophia Richter, 34,
have been charged with keeping their three daughters in prison-like
conditions, beating them with belts and sticks and confining them in
their bedrooms or closets with music or static blaring constantly.
“We were only allowed out of our room to go to the bathroom,” the
middle daughter, now 15, testified on Wednesday.
Their parents have pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and
child abuse.
The sisters spent two days on the witness stand where they recounted
being beaten with belts, television coaxial cables, a wooden stick
and large kitchen spoons.
They were held in at least two Tucson-area homes until November
2013, when the two youngest – then 12 and 13 - escaped through their
bedroom window, authorities have said.
Their stepfather had warned the girls against trying to seek help,
the oldest daughter testified on Thursday.
"He told us if we ever ran away, he would catch us. He told me he
would kill me the first chance he got," she said.
None of the girls attended school past ninth grade, though they were
supposed to be home schooled, they said.
The youngest daughter, now 14, suffered the worst beatings, mostly
at the hands of their stepfather, the middle sister testified.
[to top of second column] |
“Sometimes I would just hear her scream, telling him to stop.
Sometimes I saw scars on her back, and cuts and bruises,” she
testified.
The teens said they were prevented from using the restroom for hours
at a time, held in unsanitary conditions and awakened daily at 2
a.m. to perform a ritual called "mumble," or marching in place
beside their beds.
Their captivity was detailed in the oldest daughter's secret journal
using crayons that eventually became tiny nubs and writing on pages
torn from an old textbook, she said.
Fernando Richter and Sophia Richter had been together for about 10
years and married for three or four years, police said after their
arrest.
The trial is expected to continue next week.
(Editing by Victoria Cavaliere and Sanjeev Miglani)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|